Striker informs referee that visiting supporters pelted him while he was
preparing to take a corner during the 4-0 derby victory

Luis Suárez was pelted with coins by Everton fans during the Merseyside derby, alerting referee Martin Atkinson to an incident in the first half. It remains to be seen if Atkinson will mention it in his match report.

Everton may face an investigation if the matter if pursued, but Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said he was unaware of any complaint from his Uruguay striker.

Suárez picked up a coin moments before taking the corner which led to Steven Gerrard’s first goal. Roberto Martínez, the Everton manager, acknowledged it was a miserable night for his team, suggesting they were “naïve” in a performance he saw as out of character with their form throughout his first season at the club.

His despair was compounded by an injury to Romelu Lukaku, who now awaits the results of a scan on his ankle. “We are going to assess it. His ankle is in a cast but it does not look too good,” said Martínez. “It looks like it could be ankle ligaments. It’s a collision and his ankle twisted.”

He did not disguise his disappointment at his side’s performance. “We had a period of 13 minutes where we lost the game in a naïve way,” he said. “Obviously we were desperate to come here and be ourselves and give a performance the fans could be happy and proud of but probably we got ourselves in a position where we played with heart.

“You could see they were set up to hit us on the counter and then after we lost the first goal from a dead ball situation we put ourselves in Liverpool hands and lost our solid outlook.

“We focused on scoring and left ourselves way to open which is something we have not done this season.”

Martínez surprised everyone with his line-up, recalling Ross Barkley and Steven Pienaar after injury, while Phil Jagielka was another who played through the pain barrier.

“Injuries caught up with us because the players had to be rushed back and did not have the match intensity you need,” he said.

“We looked out of sorts. We gave the ball up too cheaply and left ­ourselves exposed We had the best defensive record in the division and had only lost twice before this game so you can’t say that we were ­ourselves.”

Like Liverpool, Everton may need to add recruits before the end of the week, although Martínez believes his numbers will be swelled as the overcrowded treatment room empties.

He said: “It’s a situation where we have had too many accidents and too many injuries but the squad should be big enough when everyone is back. There is a bit of time but it’s more about getting everyone fully fit.”